Brent Peterson, who played two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks in the mid-1980s and later became a prominent Parkinson’s supporter, has died at 68.
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Brent Peterson, a former Vancouver Canucks forward and longtime Parkinson’s fundraiser, died Friday at 68. The Nashville Predators announced his death. Peterson had lived with Parkinson’s for more than two decades.
Peterson played two seasons in Vancouver after arriving in the 1985 NHL Waiver Draft following four seasons with Buffalo. In 1985-86, he played 77 games and had eight goals and 23 assists. Three of those goals were shorthanded, a career high. The Canucks reached the playoffs that season and were swept by Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers, with Peterson scoring twice in the three-game series.
In 1986-87, Peterson had 22 points in 69 games before Hartford claimed him in the next waiver draft. In 146 regular-season games with Vancouver, he finished with 15 goals and 53 points.
After retiring in 1989, Peterson moved into coaching. He served as an assistant with Hartford and later coached the Portland Winter Hawks to a Memorial Cup title in 1998.
Peterson then spent more than a decade behind the bench with the Predators after Barry Trotz brought him in during the expansion era. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2002, stepped away from coaching in 2011 and later joined Nashville’s radio broadcast team with Pete Weber.
Peterson and his wife, Tami, also founded the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s, which raised millions through events that became Predators traditions.
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